1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a mechanism for controlling the travel of a structural member to be suitably used for a drawer.
2. Background Art
A known conventional drawer cabinet comprises a cabinet frame having one or more than one compartments, a pair of fixed rails arranged on each compartment, a pair of sliding rails for slidingly traveling on a corresponding pair of fixed rails and a drawer arranged on each pair of sliding rails as well as a pair of coil springs arranged for each pair of fixed rails to impart a force to the corresponding pair of sliding rails to regain their original position and a lock device for locking a corresponding drawer against the resilient force of spring in such a manner that the drawer may be automatically returned to the compartment by means of said springs once the lock device is released. (See Japanese Utility Design Disclosures Jikkai Shou No. 64-43743 and No. 64-43744.)
With a known drawer cabinet having a configuration as described above, an end of each spring is securely fitted to the cabinet frame by winding it around a hook arranged on the cabinet frame and the other end is fitted to a corresponding drawer so that it may be resiliently expanded as the drawer is pulled away from the compartment. With such an arrangement, the drawer cannot be completely removed from the cabinet frame, making it difficult to clean the inside and any hauling movement of a loaded and stuffed cabinet a very cumbersome operation. Moreover, the operation of assembling the cabinet requires time and labor as the fixed and sliding rails need to be fitted to the compartment and drawer respectively with the springs bound to the fixed and sliding rails.
Moreover, the speed of the drawer for automatically returning to the retracted position is not adjustable nor controllable and therefore it may require a constant load spring which is very expensive, if the speed for automatic return should be kept constant, making the choice of the spring member very limited.
In view of these and other problems of existing drawer cabinets, it is therefore the object of the present invention to solve the problems by providing a mechanism for controlling the travel of a movable member of a drawer cabinet that allows the movable member to freely travel within a predetermined range of movement relative to a matching fixed member, to be automatically returned to a retracted position by a spring means and, whenever necessary, to be completely separated from the fixed member and readily put back to its proper position, wherein the speed of said movable member is adjustable and controllable and said range of movement of the movable member can be freely selected by a lock device.